Chapter 129: Even Capitalists Would Cry Seeing This!

"Cyber Angel Benten?!"

Compared to the Herald of Perfection Rowan had just summoned, it was actually the Fairy-Type monster card he'd discarded to the Graveyard beforehand that caught Alexis and her two friends, Jasmine and Mindy, completely off guard.

Wasn't that the rare card Alexis herself had only recently gotten her hands on?

She never expected Rowan would happen to have a copy of it too.

"This guy... don't tell me he built this whole Ritual deck because of me?"

Alexis couldn't help but let her thoughts wander somewhere a little off track.

It really was too much of a coincidence.

Rowan, in the middle of his duel with Camula, naturally had no idea any of this was going through her head.

At the moment, he was fully absorbed in his own great mission of spreading joy and love to his opponent.

"I activate the special effect of Cyber Angel Benten, the card just now offered up as tribute for the Ritual Summon and sent to the Graveyard!"

"When this card is Tributed, I can add one LIGHT Fairy-Type monster from my Deck to my hand!"

Rowan pulled another card from his deck once more, holding it up with a broad smile for Camula to see.

"The card I'm choosing to add to my hand is this Level 2 Fairy-Type monster, Diviner of the Herald."

"Next, I activate the other effect of Dawn of the Herald, the Ritual Spell I used a moment ago, now sitting in my Graveyard. By banishing this card from the Graveyard, I can add the monster card that was just used as tribute for the Ritual Summon back to my hand!"

Hearing this, Camula, standing across from him as his dueling opponent, couldn't help but blank out for a second.

"You're saying that Cyber Angel Benten can come right back from the Graveyard to your hand?"

Chazz, Bastion, and Alexis, meanwhile, were already watching with rather strange expressions on their faces.

Well, would you look at that. This Cyber Angel Benten had first been used as tribute for a Ritual Summon, then used to trigger its own effect, letting Rowan add a LIGHT Fairy-Type monster from his Deck to his hand.

And now, after all that, Rowan had gone and fished it right back out of the Graveyard.

The poor thing had already "died" once, and he still wasn't planning to let it rest.

Even a slave owner would weep at the sight, even a capitalist would cry.

After this whole round of what could only be called "Rowan the Skinflint's" maneuvering, having summoned a Ritual Monster with a whopping 2800 DEF onto his field, he somehow still had four cards left in hand.

"Next, I'll set one more card face-down. Turn end."

Rowan set one of his cards onto his Duel Disk, and with a heavy thud, a face-down card materialized before him as he ended his turn.

"It's rare to see this guy set just a single card face-down. That's honestly not what I expected at all..." Bastion said, sounding rather taken aback.

Chazz seemed equally baffled by it.

"Summoning a 2800 DEF monster on the very first turn is admittedly a bit of a nuisance. But it'll be mine again in no time."

Camula said with a confident smile curling at the corner of her mouth, addressing Rowan.

At the same time, she placed her hand on the deck slot of her own Duel Disk.

"My turn. Draw!"

The moment she saw the card she'd drawn, the satisfaction on Camula's face was nearly overflowing.

"That expression! Don't tell me she's already drawn that cheating card of hers on the very first turn?!"

Bastion and Chazz noticed the look on her face and guessed as much, their expressions tightening at once.

"Correct answer. Too bad there's no prize for it."

Camula said with a low laugh.

With that, she immediately revealed the card she'd just drawn straight from her hand.

"From my hand, I activate the Spell Card, Illusion Gate!"

"Bzzzz!!"

The moment her words fell, a bizarre golden gate adorned with bat statues materialized behind her.

The gate slowly began to creak open, and from within, an overwhelming pulse of dark violet power began seeping out.

"This card's effect destroys every monster my opponent controls, and lets me Special Summon one monster my opponent has used before onto my own field, ignoring its summoning conditions."

"Of course, as a price, if I lose this duel, my very soul will be devoured whole by this Illusion Gate, offered up as a sacrifice for its dark power."

Camula said, the smug look on her face never once wavering.

Even as she spoke of her own potential death, her expression didn't change one bit.

She showed not the slightest concern that, should she lose this duel, her soul would be devoured outright by Illusion Gate, without even the chance of surviving on as a sealed doll like the others.

"That card again!" Chazz tensed up immediately.

"Watch out, Camula might use her dark power to drag someone over here, to serve as the tribute for Illusion Gate in her place!"

Bastion hurried to warn Alexis and her two friends beside her, who still didn't know the full details of what was happening.

In the two duels before this one, Camula had used this very Spell Card, Illusion Gate, to destroy outright Kaiser Zane Truesdale's 4000 ATK Cyber End Dragon, as well as Jaden's 2800 ATK Elemental HERO Tempest.

Then she'd Special Summoned the monster straight onto her own field, ignoring its summoning conditions.

On top of that, she'd used her dark power to send that vampire bat out to snatch Atticus and Chumley away, respectively, to serve as the soul sacrifice for activating Illusion Gate in her place.

This left both Kaiser Zane Truesdale and Jaden in the position that, if either of them won, Atticus's or Chumley's soul would end up completely devoured as the sacrifice instead.

They'd had no choice but to deliberately throw their duels, and ended up turned into dolls themselves.

At least becoming a doll left open the possibility of being restored once Camula was defeated.

But if they'd won, the soul of whoever was offered up as tribute would have died for real, with no coming back.

"Now then, let's see who I should use as the tribute for activating Illusion Gate this time. That blonde girl who came with you, perhaps? She might just be someone you care about, hm?"

Hearing Bastion and Chazz's warning, Camula only laughed under her breath, the corner of her mouth curling upward, not the least bit concerned.

After all, once inside this castle, there was no escaping her dark power or her vampire bat Duel Spirit.

"Crrrack...!"

Just then, Camula was startled to hear a sudden cracking sound coming from the golden Illusion Gate behind her, the one that had been slowly creaking open.